The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. THURSDAY. MAY 30, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2898, 30 May 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. THURSDAY. MAY 30, 1878.

To those who have so persistently opposed the abolition of the gold duty, on the sole grou d of its expediency now that it is locally exr-idd, and because of the exception"! circumstances of the Thames, we commend the report of a discussion that took place in the Tuapeka County Council, md publislied in another colvn under the heading "The Gold Duty." It will there be s3n that a VB'iij sl/ong feeling exists in that n.:vvng centre, 'uapeka—the birthplace of golcVining. in Otago, which has fir. wished employment to mriy men dr.rng nearly eight: en years—as to the injustice of the gold duty and the desirability of sub tituti <g* for it a tax on mining property. The mover of the resolution to abolish the : npost and v -.bstituie a tax averred that one claim had paid between £130 and £140 as duty on the gold it produced; and again, that -me cla* as had paid more in taxes than in dividends. These claims, it must be remembered, are held by parties of miners—not by powerful companies. Some of them have expsnded hundreds— even thousands, of pounds :'n budding water races and other works; and they, reasonably enough, want to know why tteir settled 'ndusLy, which has taken large amounts of capital to bring-to its present state of development—that of one of the staple industries of the Colonyshould be crippled by exceptional i;xation, the outcome of legislation which was no doubt necessary and right in the early days of gold mining, when the discoveries of alluvial treasures attracted rll sorts of men from all climes, rendering the work of preserving law and order difficvt and expensive, but which ought to have been abandoned long ago as unjuct md oppressive. We have ho wish to revive a local discussion oa this question. We believe it will occupy the aUeation of the Legislature next session,, and that the convictiv ns of Ministers md the.*. flneiee '? Sor.th :.: constituencies, not laboring under exceptional circumstances like the Thames, w''l bring about a further reduction, if not total abolition of the gold duty. What we would like to see is an intelligent effort made to devise some substitute for the gold duly, such as that propo: >d :i the article refei^ed io above and previously indical;;d in these columns -—provision for taxing nrning property. This rf quires some consideration, and should be approach 1 impartially. We do not want any fax that will press fiduly upon ;ndi?iduals. Taxation of mining property may be cVfier't to deal with, but we are convinced that it will in time supersede .tie gold duty, because in other partsof the Colony the latter presses unduly upon individuals. If all mining districts were in the same rosition as the Thames, we coald scrrcely admit the justice of the gold duty; but we should, say that the Government were in duiy bound to removo the exceptional circumstance.?, and reduce the burdens upon mining. In our case, much could be done by acquiring the freehold of the goldfield.